Will Copyright Office Address Rootkits Via DMCA Rulemaking?

“When Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, it threw one small bone to those who feared the new law imperiled fair use rights. It mandated the U.S. Copyright Office to conduct a rulemaking process every three years to study and correct any adverse effects the law might have. And since we all know that the DMCA has had little but adverse effects ever since, it certainly leads one to wonder when the Copyright Office is going to do something about it.

“Although the DMCA and some grudging exceptions produced in the Copyright Office’s 2000 and 2003 rulemaking do have some limited protections for security researchers, Princeton University professor Ed Felten and doctoral candidate Alex Halderman are asking the Copyright Office for a clear rule this time. The current rulemaking isn’t first time the Copyright Office has been asked in its Congressionally mandated role to fix the DMCA in order to protect the researchers who are trying to protect us.”